A fire at the Parle-G biscuit factory in the Richhai industrial area of Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district was brought under control within an hour on Monday, after more than 20 fire tenders and water bowsers were deployed. All workers were safely evacuated and no injuries were reported, according to officials.
The alert was received at around 3 pm, Jabalpur Municipal Corporation’s Fire Brigade Officer Kushagra Thakur told PTI from the site. Firefighting resources were sent by the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation, Parle-G, Coca-Cola factories, defence establishments and other civic bodies.
Thakur said the fire near the factory’s machine room had been put out. However, the blaze in the warehouse remained active, with firefighters working to douse it. The warehouse contained biscuits and packed raw materials, and the nature of the stored material meant that extinguishing the fire would take additional time, he said.
The response brought together municipal firefighting teams, industrial facilities, defence establishments, police personnel and industrial-area management officials. Thakur described the coordination between the different establishments as excellent and said Parle-G workers also assisted the operation.
The fire appears to have been triggered by a short circuit, Thakur said. The cause had not been established through a completed investigation in the information available, and the official described the short circuit as an apparent trigger. He also said the factory might have suffered significant losses in the incident.
The incident placed the Richhai industrial area’s emergency-response capacity at the centre of the operation. Fire tenders and water bowsers from multiple agencies were required to tackle the blaze, while the evacuation of workers helped prevent casualties. The involvement of nearby industrial units and defence establishments also showed how firefighting support was mobilised beyond the municipal fire service.
Personnel from the Richhai police station and officials of the industrial-area management remained at the site as firefighting continued in the warehouse. The immediate official information did not provide details of the total damage, the duration of the remaining operation or the findings of any inquiry into the apparent electrical trigger.
